Agility π

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Eep! What a busy, crazy, fun trial! It was our clubs first ever hosted trial somewhere other than at Argus and it went quite well despite the past week's weather. There were a few bumps in the road, but the club members did great helping one another and getting this trial to be a success. Friday when we were setting up we heard that the Narrows Bridge had been closed...we crossed our fingers and hoped for it to open before the next day (thankfully it opened that evening).

I only ran Maggie in two runs a day for the weekend. Didn't want to over do myself or her. She did great though and was her happy Maggie self the whole day. She flirted with everyone she could find and loved being out and about. Tika even came along and had a blast. She was a very good girl and showed wonderful restraint when things got exciting in front of her.

Our first run of the day on Saturday was Standard...Maggie was full of zoom! She was buzzing all over the course and had to be downed a few times to regain control lol, needless to say it was an NQ. She was just so happy to be out and running. Our second run on Saturday was Fullhouse...a game that both her and I quite enjoy. I changed plans about halfway through our run and she did great - we even managed to squeeze out a Q!

After the trial we went to dinner at a local Shari's with some other club members and the judge. The judge was very good spirited and friendly despite the long day and late start.

Sunday was a regular start time and we were there bright and early. So happy we had built the course the night before!The first run of the day was Standard again...but Mags had other plans. She inhaled a cookie before the run and then proceeded to cough it up on the teeter! Off we go :( It was turning out to be such a good run too! So we waited all day until Jumpers (last run of the day) and hoped for the best. We managed to make it through the tricky serpentine and to obstacle 13...which is where it all went awry. 13 was a tunnel straight off the end of a jump and she somehow went around it, then back around it, and then in the wrong end before finally getting in the correct entry. We finished the run with a smile and a cookie as she ran well despite the bobbles.

No pictures or videos as that would have required me to be less busy lol! Hopefully at the February trial though :)

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Wow! What a fun trial for only two runs and one day. Maggie was in good spirits upon arrival and was ready to go with her little wig-wag tail a-goin', so I had a good feeling for the day. This was the first trial since getting Tika, so I wasn't quite sure how she would do...also the poor girl was way out of practice.

First up was Jackpot and it was a traditional (which I do like). Mags had a great start line and first obstacle...then she jumped over the tunnel onto the A-frame...uh...what? Yes...she jumped over a tunnel entrance for the A-frame. Apparently we need work on discrimination. Then we proceeded to run around the course getting lost. For the Jackpot portion Maggie became obsessed over a jump and refused to leave it for the weaves...oh well, we had fun.

Our second run was Standard...uh...yeah - we are way out of practice. Handling cues were poorly timed and misunderstood, but Maggie really was a good girl about it all. We hadn't done 12 weaves since September and she managed to not have any popping out. Yes, there was a bit of tunnel suction (yes...it was the same one that she jumped over earlier in the day) and some other off-courses, but we did manage to get one tricky part - after the A-frame there was a jump/tunnel and there were more than just a few dogs that went into the wrong end of the tunnel. Maggie actually did a very good job even with my poor body language.

This was also Tika's first time hanging out at a trial with me and she did marvelously! I kept her in the car while I ran Maggie as all I had was a soft crate for inside and didn't want to chance her hearing me with Maggie and trying to escape. I was able to leave Tika crated though while I worked the rings, so I am sure she will do fine when I actually run Maggie.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

This trial was quite fun, and funnily enough I managed to have the same judge that I had back in Michigan! I went to set up my gear on Saturday though and that made Sunday morning really easy. I helped on on Saturday with ring crew jobs and just spent time with friends and not having to worry about missing a run because I was off in lala land. It also gave me the perfect place to go to keep my mind off the new puppy I was getting! Not that it helped much as the person set up near the group had cute little Aussie pup as well.

On Sunday Maggie had three runs and all were quite good despite our lack of practice and finesse. Our first run was Standard level 4...Maggie was a zoomer! No control and just absolute chaos...the poor girl was so excited - I actually had to carry her off the course she was so wound up! Next up was Jackpot - which is becoming my new favorite. Maggie was able to do everything I wanted and then some. I had a small bobble handling wise on my way to the Jackpot section (extra tunnel and wrong side), but we still managed to get the jackpot. Last up was Snooker, not our best attempt but I really struggled to find a good course for her to run - nothing was standing out to me, I had a plan for all 7's, but when I saw how pokey Mags was being I opted for a quicker route...we still had the Q by miles so I wasn't too worried. Maggie did finish level 4 Snooker though :)

But we had a blast at this trial. Maggie ran in 4 runs that day and did quite well, no video - but there were 2 Q's :)

First up were Chances, Maggie had great distance though and managed to get her contact with me behind the line - what a good girl! We did miss the Q, but I was mostly hoping for distance practice. The Regular run was quite good though! Maggie Q'd and had a great time. Hoopers was less than stellar as we had to run out of the ring cause Maggie had to "GO" - now! But last up was Tunnelers and she was zooming! Gotta love the non-stop tunnel action, she sped through the course and did quite well.

The next weekend we went to a Funday. It was a mix of NADAC style courses as well as ASCA. Maggie ran wonderfully and I hope to make it out to the BLAST outdoor arena next year. The surface was nice to run on and the people were very friendly, some were familiar and others I had never met before.

Maggie did well in the Jumpers course even with a few handling flaws on my part. I played with her over in the tunnels course as well, it was basically the same course from the trial the week before - but we ran variations on it...gosh she was quick! We were then off to regular where she did great. I managed to layer a few obstacles and even got a clean run the first time through.

I even took Porter out and ran him a few times around the jumpers course and once around the regular...he did very well even though he was a bit rugged around the edges.

CPE Capital City Canine Club (4C) September 24th, 2011 - Lansing, MIWow what a trial! Our first time away from our home turf, but funnily enough it felt just like home! CPE is a wonderful venue and even though nobody knew me, they all were happy to have me and the Pi.

We were visiting my grandma down in Battle Creek, MI and figured that I should go to this trial as it was only an hour away. So we woke up early and got there in time for Day of Show entries as I didn't pre-enter. So we got there and set up and signed up to help where I could - I managed to make friends with the gals set up next to me and got videos of our runs.

Maggie did great though! We started out with pretty much a "drop an go" method and it worked really well as I got some speed off the line - which was nice. There were some good moments and then a missed contact as well as me getting lost, but overall it was full of good things.

I was making a trip back to Michigan and figured I should stop in to the ASCA Nationals and run Maggie in a pre-show for Rally-O seeing as how it was on the way...as well as assist where I could with the ARPH booth.

Maggie had spent three days in a car though and we had very little work to build up to this, plus the minus of the foster dog (who had been a big part of the house) she had been a bit off. I had planned to do both Obedence and Rally, but when we got there Maggie was so out of it - I figured that Rally would be more than enough for her.

Maggie managed to get a 194 and a Q in Rally Novice B...probably was in the top ten out of 30 competitors. I really enjoyed ASCA rally though and hope that it can get going here in Western WA.

This was quite the weekend! We took off for Oregon on Friday to drop off the foster dog, Kenna, to her new foster home as well as take Maggie into the Obedience ring that evening.

All the dogs were a bit on edge, but Kenna had a successful transfer (and was later adopted a week and a half later). Once I got to the trial site Maggie took a tumble down the hill...dog with zoomies + hill = limping puppy :( She ended up excused from the ring and I pulled her from agility for the weekend. But seeing as how I had already paid, I just transferred the runs over to Porter and he got to play instead. Porter ran both on Jumpers and in Pre-Novice on both days and he had fun running around with me. It was good to see :)